St Francis Xavier

St Francis Xavier's Cathedral

St Francis Xavier's Cathedral is right in the centre of the City of Adelaide.

The Cathedral is dedicated to the great 16th century Spanish Jesuit missionary saint who is also patron of the Church in Australia and patron of our first bishop Francis Murphy (1844-58). Initial construction began in 1851 and there has been various phases of activity leading to the installation of the tower in 1996.

Building of the Cathedral began in 1851, making it the oldest cathedral in Australia.

The tower was not completed until 1996 – 145 years almost to the day after workers had dug the first sod for the beginning of work on the Cathedral site.

The Cathedral is usually a busy place with several daily Masses, Rosary and confessions as well as weddings, baptisms and funerals.

It is both a Cathedral and a parish church, so there are usually many diocesan and parish events held here.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Next to the Cathedral, on the western side, opening onto Victoria Square – the exact centre of the City of Adelaide – is Mary MacKillop Plaza. The statue of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop with two children, a little girl and an Aboriginal boy, has become a place of pilgrimage.

Archbishop Philip Wilson unveiled and blessed the statue in March 2009. "Mary was a familiar figure in this part of the city in the late 1860s,” he said. Her first school in Adelaide was the St Francis Xavier's Cathedral Hall school on the eastern side of the Cathedral.

Unique religious blessing - for an app

In what is believed to be the first religious blessing of an app, a new online walking trail following the footsteps of Australia’s first saint will be launched in Mary MacKillop Plaza, Victoria Square, today (Monday April 13) at 11am.

The trail, which begins and ends at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral where St Mary MacKillop once worshipped, has been added to the National Trust’s Adelaide City Explorer smart phone app and website (www.adelaidecityexplorer.com.au).

The official launch and blessing by Vicar General Fr Philip Marshall and Lord Mayor Martin Haese coincides with Australian Heritage Week (April 11-19).